Tony's Take: Baylor Bits

TONY'S TAKE

By Tony Caridi

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October 03, 2013 01:33 PM

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With last year’s game as a bold reminder of what could happen, and Baylor’s freakish point productivity so far this season, suffice to say that Saturday’s date between the Bears and the Mountaineers may be played at an incredibly fast pace.

Watching fast football is fun for the fans, but not necessarily for announcers who spend their entire week preparing neat little tidbits of information to sprinkle in during the broadcast. It has created a disease within the broadcast industry, which we’ll call Mega-Info-Overload Syndrome.

To decrease the risk of this insidious malady, I’m dumping some notable nuggets of info that may never hit the airwaves. Here we go:

- Did you know that Baylor cornerback Demetri Goodson was born in our capital city of Charleston? Before enrolling at Baylor as a football player, he played three seasons of basketball at Gonzaga as a point guard—starting 68 of 69 games in his final two seasons. His return to West Virginia was not a fun one last season. He broke his arm against the Mountaineers and missed the rest of the year.

- Baylor coach Art Briles’s son, Kendal, serves as the Bears passing game coordinator. But, there’s more to this like-father-like-son equation. Kendal, like his dad, was recruited to play quarterback in college, and father and son transferred from their original schools before completing their collegiate careers as receivers.

- This is the 64th and final season that Baylor will play its home games at Floyd Casey Stadium. Located about four miles from campus, it cost $1.8 million to build in 1950. Baylor’s new stadium, currently under construction, will cost $250 million. The new facility will have a capacity of 45,000 upon completion but will be expandable to 55,000. It’s perfectly located next Interstate 35 and the Brazos River, so you can drive or float your way in to watch the Bears.

- WVU’s Dana Holgorsen and Baylor Art Briles know a lot about each other. The two coached together on Mike Leach’s staff at Texas Tech for three years. The Dana-Art relationship isn’t the only one. WVU defensive line coach Erik Slaughter served as linebackers and strength coach for Briles at Houston for three seasons.

- In last season’s offensive explosion, Mountaineer receiver J.D. Woods caught 13 passes for 114 yards. That happens to be six more catches and 47 yards more than his entire receiving total from the previous season.

- Baylor is one of 18 schools in the country that did not have a single change within its coaching staff last season. In fact, all of Baylor’s staff has been with the program for at least the last two years.

- Baylor has a junior receiver named Clay Fuller who is seasoned. I mean really seasoned. He’s 26 years old. The former third round pick of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim spent six seasons in the minors as an outfielder. He still has speed. He was laser clocked at a 4.3 40-yard dash in the offseason. Fuller originally committed to Baylor as a baseball player in 2005, the same year WVU defeated Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

I now feel better that this info has seen the light of day. Who knows if it might make it into the broadcast on Saturday night, but at the rate of snaps so far this season probably not.